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Humans have built roads for thousands of years. Today, new roads are being built rapidly, even in very remote parts of the world. These roads can create benefits for humans but they also pose risks to the environment. And where we build roads matters.
Watch the video, then answer the discussion questions in small groups, or as a class.
Conversation drivers
1. Discuss some benefits of roads for human societies. Can you think of any additional benefits that were not mentioned in the video?
2. Discuss some challenges that roads pose to biodiversity and the environment more generally. Also think about the placement of roads – is a road built on a forest edge likely to have the same impacts as a road built through the middle of a forest?
3. Can you think of ways roads might help the environment or support conservation? For example, can roads help prevent the spread of wildfires?
4. Brainstorm what factors we should consider when we build new roads. Can you think of any ways of protecting biodiversity near roads? (For instance, in some locations, tunnels and bridges are used to provide safe pathways for animals.)
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Parents & educators
Use these articles from Mongabay News for your reference or to extend the discussion about roads and biodiversity:
How wildlife crossings in Canada are inspiring safer roads for global species
Carnivores avoid rush hour by taking to roads at night
Road safety for wildlife: researchers analyze the best techniques for road-kill mitigation
Build around the forest, not through it, study says of Sumatra trucking road
Warning: the story below contains images of animals killed on roads
As roads and railways threaten primates, Brazil is a global hotspot
